A Film by Hany Abu-Assad Paradise-Book HD 6/02/05 18:56 Page 2
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Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:56 Page 1 a film by Hany Abu-Assad Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:56 Page 2 by Hany Abu-Assad Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/France – 2005 – 90’ – Color – 2,35 – Dolby SRD INTERNATIONAL PRESS: Chris PATON Paul SAUNTER DDA Press Office Madison Hotel IN BERLIN: Square Garden Suite 0 Potsdamerstrasse 3 stand n 70 10785 Berlin T: +49 30 600 34 307 T: +49 30 590 05 15 10 F: +49 30 600 34 308 [email protected] GERMAN PRESS: Via Berlin 2, Rue Turgot Petra MEYER F-75009 Paris Joachimstrasse 3-4 T: +33 1 4970 0370 10119 Berlin F: +33 1 4970 0371 T: 030-2408 7741 [email protected] F: 030-2408 7747 www.celluloid-dreams.com [email protected] Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:56 Page 4 riends since childhood, young Palestinians Khaled Fand Saïd are recruited to carry out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv. After a last night with their families without being allowed to say goodbye, they are taken to the border with bombs strapped to their bodies. However, the operation doesn’t go as planned and they lose track of each other. Separated, they have to face their destiny and their own convictions... Shot in Nablus, the movie provides valuable insight into the ordinary lives of people in desperate circumstances. It explores the legitimate reasons to oppose occupation, but it never condones the taking of life. Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 6 Ewen MacAskill and Hany Abu-Assad in Conversation Ewen MacAskill is diplomatic editor of The Guardian and has covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Was filming in Nablus a problem? It was an insane idea to shoot a film there. Every day we had some sort of trouble. Both the Israelis and Palestinians were used to news crews of a few people. But we didn’t have a small crew that could shoot film and run. There were 70 people and 30 trucks, we couldn’t run and hide with that! Some Palestinian gunmen somehow had the idea that we were making a film against the Palestinians. However, other groups and factions supported the film because they thought we were fighting for freedom and democracy. One group though, thought the film was not presenting the suicide bombers in a good light and came to us with guns and asked us to stop. We continued shooting because the other fighters were with us. Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 8 Was the crew ever caught in the Israeli-Palestinian crossfire? Not one day went by without having to stop filming. We stopped and waited until the firing stopped and then continued working. Six German technicians left the set of the film? (Laughs) I do not blame them. They did the right thing. Life is more important than a film. They left after 20 days when there was an Israeli missile attack on a nearby car. There were also gunmen who ordered us to leave. But mainly they left because we were too close to the destruction and the situation was getting worse. Most of the real danger was from the missiles. When we heard shooting, we could go somewhere else, but you don’t see missiles coming. That is much more scary. Although you continued working in these conditions, you eventually had to abandon Nablus for Nazareth? There was a big explosion and three men died in the area we were shooting the night before. We felt we had no other choice but to leave. It was a problem, because we wanted to continue filming in Nablus for continuity but it worked out fine in the end, aesthetically. Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 10 Where did the idea for the film come from? Every day in the newspapers we hear of suicide attacks. It is such an extreme act that I began to think, like everyone, how could someone do that – what could drive them to it? It made me realize that we never hear their story, their side. How could they justify this? Not only to their families but also to themselves. However you may judge them, they have a story and a rationale. You chose to shoot on 35mm when it would have been easier and quicker to shoot digitally. Why? It was a way of making a distinction from the news footage that is on our television screens every day. The film is not just about portraying reality; it’s also about using reality to paint a picture. Yet the film looks realistic. Well it’s naturalistic. Yet it is still a film, a story. On one hand the film is fiction and at the same time you want to it to ring true. I thought about it as a thriller. It is a political thriller, but also a psychological film, a western and a gangster film all rolled into one. Because the West Bank is under occupation, it has become almost like the Wild West. It certainly felt this way when we were filming! Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 12 the film will succeed in this aspect, i.e. to stimulate thought! If you see the film, I feel that it’s fairly obvious that it does not condone the taking of lives. In my experience much of the talk and protest comes out the idea of the film and not necessarily the film itself. It’s often a knee-jerk reaction to the subject matter. All I can hope is that people see the film before commenting. That’s all I ask. What is interesting is that throughout the filming, our day-to-day reality was worrying about what the Palestinians thought. Although I give a human face to the suicide bombers, I am also very critical of them, yet no one asks me now what I expect the Palestinian reaction will be. The question is: what does occupation do to human beings? What is the reality? Whatever you think of these people and their actions, they are human beings. How did you research the subject of suicide bombers? I studied the interrogation transcripts of suicide bombers who had failed. I also read Israeli official reports. I spoke to people who personally knew suicide bombers who died: the friends and families and mothers. What became clear was that there are no stereotypes, not one story the same. Are you expecting trouble from Israeli or Jewish groups who might protest that the film is too sympathetic to suicide bombers? I sincerely hope there will not be trouble. The film is simply meant to open discussion, hopefully, a meaningful discussion about the real issues at hand. Everyone seems to be worried about what people will think. But one hopes that Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 14 Are you suggesting a moral equivalence between Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank and the suicide bombers? The full weight and complexity of the tragedy of Palestine is impossible to show on film. No one side can claim moral stance because taking any life is not a moral action. The entire situation is outside of what we can call morality. I think it is safe to say that the occupation is responsible for the suicide attacks. Some Israelis say that the Palestinians must first stop the violence to begin the peace process. But that is a cyclical argument. No one deserves to be occupied. How would you describe yourself? An Israeli-Arab, (the description the Israelis prefer for Palestinians living inside Israel), or a Palestinian? I am not an Israeli-Arab, the expression is not correct. I am a Palestinian. I have an Israeli passport but it does not make me an Israeli. As long as Israel continues to be a Jewish state, I cannot be an Israeli as I am not a Jew. I am not against the Jews being in Palestine. Theirs is a Middle Eastern culture, but I cannot agree with a state that makes a native people foreigners in their own land. There is Israeli involvement in the film? I have an Israeli co-producer, Amir Harel. Why did you make this film? To open debate and to make the stories of those who are invisible, visible. Ewen MacAskill Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 16 PALESTINE: A BRIEF HISTORY Palestine has been riven by change and occupation throughout its history, having been controlled by the Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian and Roman empires at various times before being conquered by the Arabs in 643 AD. It remained an Arab Muslim country until the 20th century (apart from a brief period during the Crusades in the 12th century), having been part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1917. After World War I, in 1920, the land was mandated to Great Britain and was officially named Palestine. Following the terms of the Balfour Declaration, the land was decreed the Jewish homeland and the state of Israel was formed in 1948. As a consequence over a million Palestinians were forced to resettle as refugees in the Gaza Strip on the west coast, on the West Bank of the Jordan and other countries. Palestine ceased to exist as a political entity. This came to be known as “The Catastrophe”, the Naqba. Paradise-book_HD 6/02/05 18:57 Page 18 The displacement of the Palestinians inevitably caused widespread discontent and, in 1964, the politico-military Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed and began a campaign of guerrilla insurgency against Israel from its base in Jordan.